Freiburg Concert Hall
The Freiburg Concert Hall is a building opened in 1996 in Freiburg im Breisgau . Built according to a design by the architect Dietrich Bangert , it is used for concert and cultural events as well as for congresses and meetings. Under the working title “Culture and Conference Center” (KTS), it was one of the most controversial building projects in Freiburg since the end of the war until it opened. Until 2016 it was the headquarters of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg . With its variably usable large hall, it is the venue for numerous other events.
Location and surroundings
The concert hall takes up a large part of the building block on Bismarckallee between Bertoldstrasse and Sedanstrasse on the western edge of Freiburg's old town . The Wiwilí Bridge connects the pedestrian Konrad-Adenauer-Platz as forecourt directly to the lawn in front of the Sacred Heart Church in the neighboring residential area Stühlinger . The town theater is located on the rear side in the adjacent building block .
The Konzerthaus has optimal transport connections within Freiburg thanks to its direct proximity to the main train station , the tram stops on the Stühlingerbrücke , the bus station and its own underground concert hall garage. Accommodation options include the Novotel Hotel (formerly Dorint ) built in the same block and the InterCity Hotel in the train station in the immediate vicinity.
architecture
- For illustration see also picture galleries under web links
According to the architect Dietrich Bangert, the construction of the concert hall cannot be assigned to a common school or architectural style. Rather, the halls loosely inserted into the asymmetrical floor space and the spacious foyer laid out on several levels and connected at many points by stairs represent “a small piece of the city under one roof”. The facades almost completely restore the old block boundaries and by adopting the adjacent building heights, the building fits into the surrounding cityscape and does not tower above it.
Entrance area and foyer
While the north facade in gray pink granite with a portico ( colonnade ) provides a closed impression and thus assumes the consistently high in the Bertoldstraße building line, opens to the west a wide glass front with the main entrance. At a height of around 20 m, it is spanned by a large, acute-angled city loggia supported by columns in gray-white exposed concrete. It forms the "outer area of the inner spatial structure" and should create the feeling of having entered the building when entering the square. The city loggia was the only distinctive exterior feature on the former logo of the concert hall.
The reception counter and cloakrooms are on the ground floor. The foyer, which is illuminated in diffuse daylight and in the evening similar to daylight, offers space for receptions and exhibitions , especially on the first floor . The supporting pillars , like the pillars of the city loggia, end in a translucent window cross which, together with the softly falling light on the walls, “also harmoniously integrates the lower levels”. There is also the upper entrance to the parquet of the Rolf-Böhme-Saal (with concert seating) and a larger balcony below the city loggia. The entrances to the side tiers and the gallery of the large hall as well as the round hall at the southwest and the small hall at the northeast end of the building and another balcony can be reached via a gallery on the 2nd floor . The carpeted stairs on both sides offer the possibility of dividing and multiple use of the whole building and the quick access to all floors of the concert hall.
Rolf Böhme Hall
The heart of the concert hall is a rectangular, 47 m long and 19 m wide concert hall with an average height of 17 m, which is laid out in the manner of a church nave . It was named after the former Lord Mayor of Freiburg, Rolf Böhme , during whose tenure the concert hall was built. The long, deep side tiers of the large American cherry- paneled room, reaching up to the stage, give the hall the character of an arena . With concert seating, it seats 1744 people, making it the second largest concert hall in southern Baden after the Baden-Baden Festival Hall .
The great variability of the hall is unique so far. The parquet, which is divided into strip podiums, the lowest point of which is almost at street level, can be lifted to the level of the main level of the foyer using spiral lifts to create a continuous area and to create a banquet . In addition, the side tiers, including the seating, can be pulled upwards by 90 degrees using a cable system, thus opening up additional lateral entrances and reducing the volume of the room considerably due to the low side aisles. In addition, exposed sound-absorbing surfaces and large openings take into account the different acoustic requirements for music and for events with speech contributions. In order to compensate for the unfavorable effects of the high stage space, 30 height-adjustable, circular sound sails made of acrylic glass were installed and movable screens were created. Set up between the musicians and the back wall, they should, together with the sound sails, provide additional resonance spaces. This also partially compensates for the missing resonance spaces, which were originally planned for the rear wall of the hall in an organ. The hall can also be illuminated with daylight through the skylights.
Round hall
On the second floor, two circular halls on the south-western and north-eastern edge form a contrast to the axiality of the large hall. The bass drum in the southwest is only accessible from the concert hall on the second floor; the two floors below were given to the hotel for use in order to save costs. Designed as an amphitheater with a diameter of 27 m, this round hall seats up to 350 people. The low gallery running along the walls reinforces the impression of introversion compared to the large hall, whereas the large central skylight and a planned, but not implemented, central podium were intended to gather the audience “as if around a fire”. The hall is therefore designed for speech contributions such as lectures and readings , but is also suitable for cabaret events and chamber music .
Meeting rooms, administration and utility rooms
Starting with the snare drum in the northeast of the building, a total of nine conference rooms are available on the second floor along Bertoldstrasse. Of the eight rectangular rooms, the middle six can be combined variably and thus adapted to different requirements. Like the offices above, they are equipped with modern communication technology.
For concerts there are artists' cloakrooms on the ground floor, a lounge on the mezzanine floor behind the large hall, rooms for direction , sound engineering , translators and administration under the roof, and an instrument storage room in the basement. All rooms can be reached via internal stairs or elevators without contact with the public area. External organizers can approach the inner courtyard via Sedanstrasse and supply the stage at ground level via the rear wall of the large hall.
Building history
Prehistory (until 1983)
During the bombing on the night of November 27, 1944 , Freiburg lost the culture and festival hall in the city garden, which was the largest public assembly room to date. It was completed in 1854 by the Baden architect Friedrich Eisenlohr and offered space for up to 5000 people. Even with the construction of the town hall in 1954, this gap could not be adequately closed, as the one-room concept of the hall and the remote exhibition location on the eastern edge of the city center proved to be inadequate for many events. In addition, by the mid-1970s , the city center had shifted further and further west into the Rhine valley due to numerous new development areas and urban integrations .
At the end of the 1970s, based on a design by the architect Manfred Saß, a project was therefore planned to completely build over the railway to connect the city districts and Stühlinger. However, since immense construction costs of around DM 86 million were expected for this and the Deutsche Bundesbahn did not want to spend any money on large projects due to the increasing competition from aircraft, the station plate never got beyond the status of a pilot project. Other drafts that had already been rejected at this point included a new building behind the city theater or the extension of the Karlsbau.
Planning phase (until 1992)
The "Culture and Conference Center" project
In 1982 changes of government at all political levels led to a brief interruption in efforts to erect a large public building.
Two years later, Prime Minister Lothar Späth assured Lord Mayor Rolf Böhme that he would be financially supported by the state. In March 1984 a project study “Culture and Conference Center” was prepared and approved by the local council.
This study used, based on the previously suggested station plate, a property owned by the city in the immediate vicinity of the station. With an estimated 80 million DM construction costs and a building that adapts to the surrounding architecture instead of towering above it, the study was much more realistic and more appropriate to the empty coffers than its failed predecessor.
A subsequently commissioned report on the market opportunities and economic viability of the project refined the guidelines and laid down framework conditions for the size of the main hall with 1,600 seats with flexible usability and the planning of a privately owned neighboring hotel.
With the municipal council resolution of November 12, 1985, the costs were set at 70.5 million DM, which should be financed with 30 million DM state funds and a favorable equity capital formation of the municipal building company. A price increase to a total of DM 76 million was calculated for the planned opening date in 1991. A two-stage architectural competition with relatively strict specifications was carried out for the realization , in order to avoid daring proposals associated with high cost risks.
Resistance to the KTS
While the project was very well received by the local council and the organizers, and the later eponymous development association Konzerthaus Freiburg was founded in 1984 , the opponents of the project soon expressed themselves. So already in the course of the project was the station plate into being called citizens' initiative against the Congress Center reactivated and now directed against those in the media reporting the acronym evaporated "KTS". This initiative arose from circles of the autonomous squatter scene and previously appeared through violent arguments with the police.
In the opposition to the Konzerthaus, the opponents increasingly relied on open letters, signature campaigns and public events. In addition to a general reorientation of the alternative scene with the entry of the Greens into the Bundestag , this may also have been due to the de-escalation policy of the new municipal government, which had accommodated the scene, for example by maintaining and redeveloping the residential area "Im Grün" near the center. The political strengthening of the formerly extra-parliamentary left was already evident in the 1984 state elections , in which the Greens, with 15.7% in Freiburg, were already twice as represented as the national average.
The arguments of the opponents, however, still referred only to the general market economy development of the city and the feared restriction of public funds due to excessive (ongoing) expenditure on the building. In an academic paper, the founder of the citizens 'initiative explained his motivation with the words that it insists "not on a special interest in the property", but on "politicizing the citizens of Freiburg via a citizens' initiative" and thereby generating an interest in grassroots democracy .
Architecture competition and referendum
A two-stage architectural competition was held between 1986 and 1988 , the proposals of which were widely discussed in public and led to a further polarization of the Freiburg citizenship.
In the first competition, urban planning aspects were in the foreground, and diverse proposals were shortlisted, from “mirroring” the adjoining city theater with a large forecourt to almost complete preservation of the block boundaries without a forecourt. In the second competition, however, the later implemented design by the Berlin architect Dietrich Bangert prevailed, which, after an initial revision to reduce costs, was accepted by the local council on February 9, 1988 with an estimated construction cost of DM 90 million on a 1987 price basis.
This municipal council resolution was the basis for the referendum by the concert hall opponents in order to bring about a referendum. The required quorum for the request of 12,000 votes was quickly achieved with 15,338 signatories entitled to vote and the vote was scheduled for June 26, 1988.
In the short but fierce coordination battle that followed, the implementation of the project became more and more uncertain and the arguments for and against condensed into the following points:
| Advocates | opponent |
|---|---|
| Positive effects on economic strength and jobs and an increase in importance as a regional center can be expected | The KTS is a non-citizen, gigantic and centralistic project of "late capitalism" |
| Music, conference and citizenship events need this space | The investment volume, reduced to 90 million DM, can be better used for other purposes. |
| The station area must be developed in terms of urban planning | Cheap living space on the outskirts of the city is being displaced |
With 50%, an unusually high turnout was achieved in the referendum, which is comparable to that usual in local elections . The result was a clear victory for the opposition with 36,439 votes against 29,289 votes for the building supporters. The minimum quorum of 30% of the citizens entitled to vote stipulated in the municipal code, which was 39,657 votes and thus only 3000 votes above the majority, prevented the initiative from being successfully completed. On June 28, 1988, the local council confirmed the decision to build the building.
Revision and concrete planning
Even if the referendum failed due to a formality, it did not remain ineffective. As the planning became more specific, it was always accompanied by great public interest and the pressure on costs was high. The revision was interrupted again and again with uncertain outcome and extended beyond the municipal council elections in 1989 and the mayoral election in 1990 until mid-1991.
As a result, the last design consistently reduced the building area, which was also associated with the transfer of the two lower floors in the bass drum to the hotel. Regardless of the external pressure, the sophisticated stage technology of the large hall was designed in this step and the main features of the acoustics of the hall were determined.
Proponents of the project blame the long planning phase for steadily rising costs, which are due to the strong economic growth of the time and the general price increase in the construction sector. When the state subsidy was increased by 10 million DM, the projected construction costs rose to 130 million DM. A second referendum, sought by critics, failed because the revision measures were not considered a new draft and a new decision was therefore inadmissible. The opponents went to the Higher Administrative Court in 1991 , but were also defeated here. This enabled construction work to begin in 1992, two years after the start of construction on the hotel that was planned at the same time and at a time when the building had already been expected to open during the architectural competition.
Construction phase 1992–1996
In May 1992, the excavation work began on the underground car park below the concert hall, so that in October 1992 the foundation stone for the concert hall was laid in the base of the third garage floor. The shell construction lasted until 1994 and was accompanied by minor changes, such as the planning of a separate kitchen in the concert hall and lengthy negotiations with the SWR Symphony Orchestra about its future main location. Shortly after the official topping-out ceremony on April 28, 1994, the move of this prestigious orchestra and the associated financial aid of 10 million DM was announced.
Almost at the same time, as part of a squatting on the site of the former French barracks in Vauban, the self-organized culture meeting was founded as an autonomous center . Colloquially, despite the clearly masculine backronym , it is abbreviated as "the KTS" and has since been the central point of contact for the autonomous scene in Freiburg. Except for sporadic small protest actions, the groups represented in the KTS did not emanate any further organized opposition to the concert hall.
The expansion work that began in 1994 was mainly carried out by companies in the region and continued for another two years.
Development and changes since opening
The concert hall was officially opened on June 28, 1996 and handed over to the operator, the Freiburger Wirtschaft und Touristik GmbH (FWT). In the following years it established itself as one of the most representative venues for cultural events and conferences and was able to record a continuous occupancy rate of 86% and around one million visitors until 2001. In addition, however, the final construction costs of 148.1 million DM (May 12, 1998) and a deficit of around 4 million DM annually provided topics of conversation right through to the election campaign for the mayoral election in 1998.
| Summary of construction costs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| after the date of publication of the calculation and taking into account the general increase in building prices | ||||
| 1987 | 90 million DM | - | - | - |
| 1991 | 107 million DM | 131 million DM | - | - |
| 1996 | 115 million DM | 168 million DM | 143 million DM | - |
| 1998 | 116 million DM | 170 million DM | 144 million DM | 148 million DM |
In addition to the political controversy, however, the acoustic conditions in the large hall were particularly criticized. In addition to the members of the SWR Symphony Orchestra , who are the most frequent tenants with 150 rehearsal days a year, the Berliner Philharmoniker also complained about difficult conditions during their first guest appearance. It was difficult for the musicians to hear each other because the sound escapes into the 14 m high room above the stage. Even when the hall was empty, as is often the case with CD productions, the acoustics were difficult to control. Such problems are not uncommon in large concert halls shortly after opening and so in 2001, after a two-year test phase, 30 circular sound sails were installed, which are height-adjustable on the ceiling above the stage area. Together with the twelve movable screens, this resulted in further investments of 800,000 DM for the FWT. Nevertheless, some critics consider further measures to be necessary, for example to be able to compete with the high quality in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden .
During the Pope's visit to Germany in 2011 , the Freiburg Concert Hall was a stop by Benedict XVI. The Pope gave a speech there, to which personalities from church and society were invited.
The leaky flat roof had to be renovated from summer 2015 to 2017. In March 2016, an improperly assembled plexiglass dome with a diameter of 2.50 meters was swept off the roof by a strong wind. Nobody got hurt. As part of the renovation, a photovoltaic system with a capacity of 60 kilowatts peak was installed on the roof of the concert hall in 2017 .
Construction and data
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A reinforced concrete structure was built as the supporting structure , in which a total of 30,000 m³ of concrete and 6,500 t of reinforcing steel were built. The building with a 3-storey underground car park has a gross volume of 136,664 m³ and a gross floor area of 30,018 m². The facades with granite clad, plastered or in concrete poured, the lobby is toward large-area ver outwardly GLAST . In the interior work, plaster, exposed concrete and American cherry (black cherry) were used for the walls as well as carpet and again cherry as the floor covering. Around 5,300 lights in the building were connected to the power grid with around 512 km of power lines.
Technical expansion of the large hall
The lateral range galleries with a dead weight of approx. 45 t can be operated in approx. 5 minutes via 2 electromechanical winch drives with 7.5 kW power. and a lifting speed of 1.2 m / min. be folded up. The subdivided hall floor with a total weight of around 300 t is lifted by means of spiral lifting cylinders . A steel belt is continuously pushed into a steel spiral by an electric motor and thus builds a vertical column. When lowered, the spiral and the rolled-up tape, including the lifting structure, take up an installation height of around 50 cm and enable lifting of up to 5 m. With payloads of 500 kg / m² at rest and 250 kg / m² in motion, the podiums can be moved at speeds between 2 and 8 cm / sec.
Halls
| Great Hall (Rolf Böhme Hall) (1000 m²) | 1776 (1774) people | |
|---|---|---|
| parquet | 19.00 × 47.00 m | 1106 people |
| 2 lateral galleries | 6.00 × 27 m | 185 people each |
| Back rank | 19.00 × 12.00 m | 300 people |
| Round hall (300 m²) | 436 (350) people | |
| room | Ø 27 m | 372 people |
| Gallery | - | 64 people |
| Snare drum (123) | Ø 13.00 m | 160 (130) people |
| Seminar rooms | 240 (238) people | |
| K2 to K4 and K5 to K7 can be combined into one or two halls | ||
| K1 and K8 (62 m²) | 12.00 x 5.00 m | (56) people |
| K2 to K7 (each 28 m²) | 5.60 x 5.00 m | (28 each) people |
Room acoustics at the time of commissioning
- see also: room acoustics
| Great hall (concert situation) | |
|---|---|
| Reverberation time at 500 Hz | 2.0 seconds |
| Number of listeners | 1776 |
| Number of musicians | 70 |
| Room volume | 16,326 m³ |
| Large hall (conference situation) | |
| Reverberation time at 500 Hz | 1.4 seconds |
| Number of participants | 1000 |
| Room volume | 13,712 m³ |
| Round hall | |
| Reverberation time at 500 Hz | 1.2-1.4 seconds |
| Number of participants | 436 |
| Room volume | 3,500 m³ |
literature
- Freiburger Stadtbau GmbH (Ed.): Freiburg Concert Hall. 1996, ISBN 3-925560-89-0 .
- Josef Diel: A roof for everyone. From the old festival hall to the new concert hall . Promo, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-923288-20-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dietrich Bangert: I even think the whole temple is singing! In: Freiburger Stadtbau GmbH (Ed.): Freiburg Concert Hall. 1996, ISBN 3-925560-89-0 .
- ^ Konzerthaus Freiburg, Rolf Böhme Saal seating plans , accessed on September 21, 2015.
- ^ Rudolf Thoma: The art and festival hall . In: Baden Architects and Engineers Association, Upper Rhine District (Ed.): Freiburg im Breisgau. The city and its buildings . HM Poppen & Sohn, Freiburg im Breisgau 1898, p. 573-574 ( Scan - Wikisource ).
- ↑ a b c d City of Freiburg: The new Freiburg main station. Press and Information Office / City Planning Office, Freiburg July 2001, p. 55.
- ^ Thilo Wichert: Culture and Congress Center in Freiburg i. Br. Dream and Reality. September 1, 1981, Master's thesis at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br.
- ↑ a b information from the archive of the Badische Zeitung , u. a. Articles in the June 26, 1998, July 29, 1999 and September 29, 1999 issues
- ↑ Construction price index of the state of Baden-Württemberg ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Freiburg: Documentation: The speech of Pope Benedict XVI. in the Freiburg Konzerthaus in full. to: badische-zeitung.de September 25, 2011, accessed October 12, 2011
- ^ Joachim Röderer: Freiburg: Refurbishment: Freiburg Concert Hall gets a solar roof. Badische Zeitung, August 4, 2015, accessed on March 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Simone Höhl: Freiburg: Plexiglas hood: Was the light dome badly installed? Badische Zeitung, March 29, 2016, accessed on March 30, 2016 .
- ^ Freiburg Concert Hall: New photovoltaic system in operation. Press release. Konzerthaus Freiburg, April 20, 2017, accessed on September 28, 2019 .
- ↑ different information in brackets according to the official homepage
Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 45.2 " N , 7 ° 50 ′ 31.4" E